Starting keto, have a few questions, please help

(Ye boi) #1

Hi, I’ve recently been interested in starting a keto diet and have been researching it a bit and have a few questions I can’t find definitive answers on. First off, I’m not interested in doing keto to lose weight, in fact, I want to gain weight(I’ll get to that), the main reason I’m doing it is for the health benefits. So here’s my questions.

  • How can you gain weight on a keto diet? As I want to, I’m not underweight but I’m definitely skinny but with a small but good bit of muscle. I want to start working out when I start keto and wondering if it’s easy to gain weight or if you have to add more calories or something.

  • I used a Keto calculator and it says I need around 180-220g of fat a day along with the other macros. My question about this is that considered too much fat? Or is that a perfectly normal amount of fat to consume? I plan to eat about 2,500 calories and also want to know if that’s enough to gain weight, if it helps, I currently consume around 2100-2300 calories on a non keto diet.

  • How many grams of protein will I need if I want to gain weight by working out?

  • Is it okay to eat only 50g carbs a day from veg and fruits like berries, or is that too much?

  • I heard that you will need to consume electrolytes on keto and I’ve been wondering what foods would be a good source, I heard salt is a good source, but maybe there’s a better source? I already know to consume lots of vegetables.

  • If I don’t really have any weight(as in body fat) to lose, will I lose any when doing keto or will I stay the same weight? I’ve been kind of scared to start for this reason mostly as I don’t want to lose anymore weight, I want to gain weight.

  • My macros according to the calculator I used says:

  • 2266 calories

  • 183g fat

  • 50g carbs

  • 105g protein

That’s the main questions I have, if anyone has any extra tips, I’d appreciate them. Thanks.

(Ren) #2

You can gain weight on keto. In the keto calculator don’t put a deficit in, that will put you at maintenance. Then add more fat to your diet to increase your calorie intake.

Experts range from .6g/lean body mass to 1.5g/lean body mass for your protein intake. You might have to experiment on yourself to find what works best for you.

Everybody is different. Some people can handle higher carbs and remain in ketosis, while others can’t. It is a general guideline of 20g of net carbs to ensure you are in nutritional ketosis.

Electrolytes are very important. Ketogenic diet needs higher levels of sodium because your body is flushing it versus holding onto it. Potassium and Magnesium are equally important as well. Best way to eat is make sure you salt your food. Keto friendly foods high in potassium are avocados, dark leafy greens, mushrooms, squash, and fish. Keto friendly foods that are high in magnesium are unsweetened cocoa powder, almonds, pumpkin seeds, fish, spinach. A lot of ketoers will suppliment electrolytes via pill form or by ketoade (brenda zorn posted a ketoade recipe that is good)

Make sure you are eating at maintenance levels so you don’t lose weight, and eat a surplus if you want to gain weight.

(Ye boi) #3

Thanks for the reply, is Himalayan pink salt good or is there a better salt to use? Also, what keto calculator do you use or what is the most popular one? Thanks :slight_smile:

(Ren) #4

I like using different sea salt and himilayan pink salt. Both are fine.

Here is the keto calculator I use.

#5

100g of salmon has almost as much potassium and magnesium as 100g of avocado, in case you’re not eating vegetables.

(Erick DeGeorge) #6

There is actually a subreddit for gaining weight/muscle on keto called r/ketogains. That might be a good place to start.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ketogains

(Ye boi) #7

Thank you :sunny:

(Ye boi) #8

Thanks, don’t worry, I’ll be eating lots of veggies.

(Ye boi) #9

I’ll give it a look, appreciate it :slight_smile:

#10

Are your health concerns to do with metabolic health, or just generally being healthier? If you know you have high insulin, the food recommendations would be a different balance than if you know you are metabolically healthy.

(Ye boi) #11

It’s not to do with metabolic health, as far as I know, I have a very good metabolism. It’s just for general better health.